Reporter Had Unearned Medals Former Newsweek Writer Who Blew Whistle On Suicide Victim Boorda Now Has To Explain His Own Combat Record

Journalist and retired Army Col. David Hackworth said Friday that the Army had mistakenly given him two awards and that when the error was brought to his attention recently, he removed them from his resume.

“I have never worn an award the Army hadn’t given me,” he said in an interview.

The issue has arisen because Hackworth’s questioning of whether the Navy’s top officer, Adm. Jeremy M. “Mike” Boorda, had worn medals to which he was not entitled was a triggering factor in Boorda’s suicide last year, according to a suicide note he left. There were other factors as well.

Boorda and his associates said the admiral’s wearing of two combat “V” decorations, challenged by Hackworth, was an honest mistake. Hackworth, then a Newsweek columnist, wrote after the suicide that it was “simply unthinkable that an experienced officer would wear decorations he is not entitled to, awards that others bled for. There is no greater disgrace.”

Hackworth said Friday he believes the inquiry into his own background was a vendetta on the part of “a boatload of admirals” who want retribution for Boorda’s suicide. He said the last time he wore the insignia on his uniform was 30 years ago.

Hackworth was awarded eight Purple Hearts and almost 280 other decorations during his distinguished Army career. In his journalistic work he has consistently been identified as America’s most-decorated veteran.

On Thursday, CNN and CBS reported that several veterans had unearthed information showing the Hackworth was not entitled to wear the prestigious Ranger tab and one of the two Distinguished Flying Crosses he listed on his resume on the Internet.

Explaining the mix-up, Hackworth said that when he resigned from the service in 1971 to protest the Vietnam War, he gave his medals to a group of Boy Scouts and moved to Australia. In 1988, Brig. Gen. John Howard, in an effort to bring him back into the fold, asked the Army to put together a package full of the medals and insignias Hackworth was entitled to wear and sent it to him as a goodwill gesture.

Included in the package, said Hackworth, was a list of awards. Hackworth gave the package to his son for posterity. Years later, when he became a well-known journalist, he copied the Army’s list of awards onto his Internet biographical site.

A few months ago, Terry Roderick, a Vietnam veteran and official in a Ranger association, said he was asked by associates to look into Hackworth’s awards, which he did. He said Friday that he discovered that the Army had given him the right to wear the Ranger tab inappropriately, which he then called to Hackworth’s attention.